OAKLAND ATHLETICS Media Release Oakland Athletics Baseball Company 7000 Coliseum Way Oakland, CA 94621 510-638-4900 Public Relations Facsimile 510-562-1633 www.oaklandathletics.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 29, 2012 A’s Stockpiling Young Talent Oakland Adds 10 Players That Should Pay Major Dividends in the Future OAKLAND, Calif. – While the A’s paid a steep price in trading All-Star pitchers Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Bailey during an 11-day period in December, the haul of young talent acquired by Oakland in those deals—10 players total—should pay major dividends in the months and years ahead. As former GM Jim Bowden of ESPN.com wrote in a recent article, “No doubt it is tough to trade two 15-game winners like Gonzalez and Cahill, but the return was so large on both fronts the A’s have improved their long-term future more than any team in baseball this offseason.” Bowden went on to say that “Jarrod Parker and Brad Peacock could be potential No. 2 or No. 3 starters, Tom Milone should be a solid No. 5 starter and big-league ready now, and down the road, 19- year-old A.J. Cole (now age 20) may have the biggest upside of all.” Keith Law of ESPN.com reinforced Bowden’s view on the Gonzalez trade, saying “Oakland gets a future ace, a starting catcher (Derek Norris), a strong reliever who might be a back-end starter…(but) Cole is the prize here, a potential No. 1 starter who ranked 36th on my midseason top prospects update and the No. 2 prospect in Washington’s system behind Bryce Harper.” Baseball America ranks five of the offseason acquisitions (in bold) among its current Top 10 A’s prospects: 1. Jarrod Parker, RHP; 2. Brad Peacock, RHP; 3. Sonny Gray, RHP; 4. A.J. Cole, RHP; 5. Michael Choice, OF; 6. Grant Green, OF; 7. Derek Norris, C; 8. Jermaine Mitchell, OF; 9. Michael Taylor, OF; 10. Tommy Milone, LHP. MLB.com ranks six A’s among the Top 100 prospects in all of baseball: 26. Parker; 59. Choice; 75. Peacock, 85. Gray; 88. Cole; 94. Green. Scout.com, meanwhile, has seven A’s prospects on its Top 100. In addition to these prospects, the A’s also obtained two Major League-ready outfielders in the trades in 24-year-old Josh Reddick (.280, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 87 games with Boston) and 25-year-old Collin Cowgill (.239, 1 HR, 9 RBI, 36 games with Arizona), who appeared in the 2011 NL Division Series. Additional notes on the acquired players and other A’s top prospects are below (age, how acquired in parenthesis): PITCHERS Raul Alcantara, RHP (19, trade with Boston) Named a Gulf Coast League Post-Season All-Star in 2011 and a DSL Mid-Season All-Star in 2010. Combined for a 1-4 record and a 2.20 ERA in 13 starts between Single-A Lowell and the GCL last year. Did not allow a home run in 65.1 innings. A.J. Cole, RHP (20, trade with Washington) Ranked by Scout.com as the No. 76 prospect in all of baseball. Was 4-7 with a 4.04 ERA in 20 games for Hagerstown last year and yielded just six home runs in 89.0 innings. Was selected by Washington in the fourth round of the 2010 draft out of Oviedo High School in Florida. Ryan Cook, RHP (24, trade with Arizona) Appeared in 12 games with the Diamondbacks, going 0-1 with a 7.04 ERA in 7.2 innings. Combined to go 1-5 with 19 saves and 2.21 ERA in 48 games between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno. Sonny Gray, RHP (22, A’s first-round pick in ’11 draft) Led Vanderbilt to its first-ever College World Series appearance and was named an All-American by multiple media outlets. Had a 1-1 record and a 0.82 ERA in six games, all starts, between Double-A Midland and the Arizona Rookie League, including a 1-0 mark with a 0.45 ERA in five starts with the RockHounds. Tommy Milone, LHP (24, trade with Washington) Named a Baseball America Triple-A All-Star and International League Mid-Season All-Star in 2011 and was an Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star in 2010. Made his Major League debut with Washington last September, logging a 1-0 record and a 3.81 ERA in five starts. Ranked second in the IL in strikeouts (155), tied for third in wins (12) and sixth in ERA (3.22) last season. Walked just 16 batters for a league-low 0.97 walks per nine innings (148.1 IP). Jarrod Parker, RHP (23, trade with Arizona) Was selected to the Futures Game and was a Southern League Mid-Season All-Star in 2009 and a Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star in 2008. Made his Major League debut Sept. 27 in a pennant race, pitching 5.2 scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a no-decision in his only start. Went 11-8 with a 3.79 ERA in 26 starts for Double-A Mobile last season with 112 strikeouts in 130.2 innings. Was the Diamondbacks first-round pick (ninth overall) in the 2007 draft. WORLD CHAMPIONS...1910 1911 1913 1929 1930 1972 1973 1974 1989 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS...1902 1905 1910 1911 1913 1914 1929 1930 1931 1972 1973 1974 1988 1989 1990 (more) A’s Stockpiling Young Talent…Page 2 Brad Peacock, RHP (23, trade with Washington) Was a Baseball America Minor League All-Star and Double-A All-Star in 2011 and was selected to the Futures Game. Was also a Topps Double-A All-Star and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Year. Made his Major League debut in 2011, posting a 2-0 record and a 0.75 ERA in three games, two starts, during a September call-up with the Nationals. Went 15-3 with a 2.39 ERA in 25 games, 23 starts, with Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse. Tied for second in all of minor league baseball in wins and ranked seventh in strikeouts (177). CATCHERS Derek Norris (22, trade with Washington) Named to the Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team in 2011, was the MiLB.com Class A Hitter of the Year in 2010 and the South Atlantic League’s Most Outstanding Major League Prospect in 2009. Batted .210 with 20 home runs and 46 RBI in 104 games with Double-A Harrisburg last year. Ranked third in the Eastern League with 77 walks and his average of 16.70 at bats per home run was the best mark in the league. Threw out 39 of 97 (40.2%) attempted base stealers, which was the highest figure among EL catchers. INFIELDERS Chris Carter (25, trade with Arizona in ’07) Was MiLB.com’s Minor League Hitter of the Year and was a Topps Triple-A All-Star in 2010. Additional awards include Pacific Coast League Post-Season All-Star (2010) and Topps Texas League Player of the Year (2009). Has a .283 average with 170 home runs and 586 RBI in 754 minor league games in seven seasons. Has topped 20 home runs and 75 RBI in each of his last five minor league seasons. Miles Head (20, trade with Boston) Named a South Atlantic League Mid-Season All-Star in 2011. Hit .299 with 22 home runs and 82 RBI in 129 games with the Red Sox Single-A affiliates at Greenville and Salem. Was seventh among Single-A hitters in total bases (255) and tied for 10th in doubles (37) and extra-base hits (61). OUTFIELDERS Michael Choice (22, A’s first-round pick in ’10 draft) Named to the Topps Class A All-Star Team and the Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team in 2011. Was also a Baseball America High Class A All-Star and California League Post-Season All-Star. Shared A’s Organizational Player of the Year honors with Jermaine Mitchell in 2011 after batting .285 with 28 doubles, 30 home runs and 83 RBI in 118 games with Single-A Stockton. Has a .281 batting average, 37 home runs and 108 RBI in two seasons as a professional. He also has 38 doubles and three triples for a .550 slugging percentage and has drawn 78 walks for a .376 on-base percentage. Collin Cowgill (25, trade with Arizona) In 2011, was a Baseball America and Topps Triple-A All-Star. He was also a Pacific Coast League Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star and was named PCL Rookie of the Year. Played 36 games in the Major Leagues last season, hitting .239 for the NL West Division Champions. Made the playoff roster and went 1 for 1 with two RBI against Milwaukee in the 2011 NL Divisional Series. Batted .354 with 24 doubles, eight triples, 13 home runs, 70 RBI and 30 steals in 98 games with Triple-A Reno. Grant Green (24, A’s first-round pick in ’09 draft) Named to the Texas League Post-Season All-Star team in 2011 after earning California League Post-Season All- Star honors at Single-A Stockton in 2010. Played in the Futures Game in 2010 and 2011, earning MVP honors in the latter contest. Has a .304 average with 73 doubles, seven triples, 29 home runs and 152 RBI in 263 games over three professional seasons. Jermaine Mitchell (27, A’s fifth-round pick in ’06 draft) Was a Texas League Post-Season All-Star in 2011 and was a Midwest League Mid-Season All-Star in 2007.